Books for 7 Year Old Boys (or thereabouts)

If you have a son between the ages of 7 and 104, you need to get him this series. Seriously, IT. IS. AWESOME.

I don't say that lightly. I read the first one because my hubby heard about it and got the first one for himself. As soon as I read the first one I bought all the other books in the series available in the United States. The author is Australian so they come out in Australia first. Grr.

Then I told everyone I knew to read the books. I gave my sister Megan the first few books to lend to her son Myles (he was 9). She read them all before giving them to Myles and then ordered the two books only available in Australia from Australia. You can imagine the shipping charges. You can also imagine my delight as I was first on her list to lend them to when she finished.

After Megan and Myles read them, Myles's older sister Danica read them, then they spread like wildfire through all the cousins--Tyson (8) and Katelyn (9) in Canada, Olivia (11) and Megan (9) in Arizona, Ana (8) in Chicago. And on and on it went, because they ARE THAT GOOD.

In fact, Tyson's dad, my brother Derek, borrowed his son's copy and read the whole series. Guess what he got for Christmas this year? The latest book fresh from Australia.

And now, as a service to our dear nephew in Switzerland who is a book fanatic, we even send copies of the books to Bern for Jethro (8).

Get these books. Seriously.

Ranger's Apprentice by John Flanagan.

You cannot go wrong with Jim Kjelgaard if you have a son with even the tiniest interest in animals. Many are out-of-print, but they show up at DI all the time and some are being reprinted. Excellent author.

You also can't go wrong with Walt Morey. Gentle Ben is my favorite, but all of them are awesome.

Mr. Popper's Penguins is a classic. It transcends gender and is a short, fun read. Miriam protested and then read the whole thing in an hour and proclaimed it "fantastic."

The Spiderwick Chronicles aren't my all-time favorite fantasy, by any stretch, but they are fun and a good intro to the genre. Miriam read them when she was 6 and wasn't scared, but my nephew Myles read them when he was 8 and was scared. It is a kid by kid thing.

Your children may think they don't like non-fiction, or they may be like Miriam and think they only like non-fiction--either way, they will love George Washington, Spymaster. It has a ton of stories about spying. What could be better?

There is a reason The Black Stallion has been around forever--it is a great story. I love Walter Farley. My favorite by him is The Horse-Tamer.

I read The Chronicles of Prydain (better known as The Black Cauldron series) when I was in second grade and I've been addicted to fantasy ever since. SO MUCH BETTER THAN HARRY POTTER. I mean it. Harry Potter has his place, and I enjoyed reading them, but Lloyd Alexander was the master at writing fantasy for this age group. All children should have this series in their home.

I really love Cheryl Harness. Her books are shorter, but excellent. I would recommend trying out a few with your sons. Especially They're Off!. My son carried it around with him for days after we read it for the first time. Then again, he fancies himself a cowboy.

My other HIGHEST RECOMMENDATION goes to the book the Davis County Library has about John Smith. I need to own this book, but don't yet, as it is out of print. Grr. I posted all about it here. It is probably one of the best adventure books I've ever read. Loved it!!!

Now, these were all off the top of my head. I'll email my sister--mother to Jethro--and see what she has to say on the matter considering she has an 8 year old boy who is a reading junkie. I'll let you know what she has to say.